The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) is a wiretapping law that was passed in 1994, which recites that telecommunications carriers “shall ensure that its equipment, facilities, or services that provide customer or subscriber with the ability to originate, terminate, or direct communications are capable of expeditiously isolating and enabling government . . . intercept, to the exclusion of any other communications, all wire and electronic communications carried by the carrier.” In other words, the CALEA provides that telecommunication carriers, such as common telephone carriers, facilities-based broadband Internet access providers, providers of interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, must design their equipment and networks to facilitate lawfully conducted intercepts, while protecting the privacy rights of customers.
However, these systems and/or techniques may not be able to establish that intercepted information was obtained from a requested system, that intercepted information was obtained from all requested systems, or even to establish which systems intercepted information was obtained from. Furthermore, current systems and/or techniques may not be capable of establishing the origination system or piece of equipment of intercepted information, and also across which equipment intercepted information traveled. As a result, current systems and methods lack the ability to establish a chain of custody for intercepted information.